An animal rights organization released a video today, saying it documents conditions for pigs at a farm in northern Iowa.

Erica Meier, executive director of Compassion Over Killing, presented the video at a press conference at the Renaissance Savery Hotel in Des Moines. She said the video came from Hawkeye Sow Centers in Leland, Iowa. Meier said the farm is a producer for Hormel Foods.

An investigator for the organization filmed the video while working at the farm in December 2011. Meier said the person was at the farm for three weeks after getting a job there.

Meier also highlighted a proposed bill in the Iowa Legislature that would make such investigations illegal.

The video documents conditions in the farm, Meier said, such as castrating piglets without anesthesia, keeping pregnant and nursing pigs in crates too small to turn around, herniated intestines as a result of poorly performed castrations and a description of feeding “gruel,” which includes ground up intestines from dead piglets, to its pigs.

“Nothing in this video is out of the ordinary for pig factories here in Iowa or across the country,” Meier said.

Meier advocated for people to adopt a plant-based diet, but also said there are steps the industry can take to discontinue the “worst abuses to minimize these animals’ suffering.”

“The most effective step that you can take to help protect these animals is to simply opt for a plant-based diet and not support the type of animal abuse that we’ve seen here today,” she said.

Hawkeye Sow Centers released a statement this afternoon saying the video appears to depict accepted and routine production processes but also pledging to investigate further.

“HSC does not condone any type of willful animal abuse and has a zero tolerance for all employees,” the statement said. The company added that a third-party audit of its facility would begin presently.

Hormel Foods said in a statement that it does not tolerate inhumane treatment of animals and that its suppliers are expected to use industry-standard practices.